


Failure Is Not An Option

by alba17



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-03
Updated: 2012-12-03
Packaged: 2017-11-20 05:04:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/581589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alba17/pseuds/alba17
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's only one path open to him now and he does it for Mary.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Failure Is Not An Option

**Author's Note:**

> For a comment_fic prompt.

For years he told himself it was because of his job. There were always more demons lurking beyond the next curve in the road, in the next town down the highway. It was easier that way, the constant mission to search and destroy a convenient preoccupation to blot his mind of the pain.

He’d only return to the motel room when the mission was complete and his muscles and mind were exhausted. He knew he could count on Dean to keep things on track with Sammy, keep themselves fed and more or less out of trouble. Dean was good that way. John tried not to notice how young he was, the baby fat still on his cheeks and the spindliness of his arms. He told himself it was good training for a future hunter.

The thing was, those boys were the most important thing in his life. They were what kept him going, even though if you asked Sam and Dean, they probably wouldn’t think he was much of a father. But they were all that he had left of Mary.

He could see her in Dean’s expressions, in Sam’s eyes. Right there, staring at him, and he’d have to turn away. Because he’d failed her. He hadn’t been able to save her. But he’d damn well would keep his boys safe, even if he had to hunt down every evil creature that roamed the earth, even if it meant leaving them alone in a hotel room when they should be in school.

Hunting was the only thing he could do now. So he just put one foot in front of the other along this path that had chosen him. He tried not to look back, tried not to think about what might have been. Because the worst thing in the world would be to fail his boys.


End file.
